Process for burning oil



NOV. 17, 1931. w L COULTAS 1,832,280

PROCESS FOR BURNING OIL Filed July so, 1927 INVENOR. Mil/HM L. (OZ/Z7345.

/S ATTORNEYS.

Patented Nov. 17, 1931 re SiA T PATENT OFFICE WILLIAM L. ooUI 'r s, orsnaronn'nnw YORK PROCESS FOR BURNING OIL application' filed July so,

ciently over a wide range of temperatures.-

Particularly where the apparatus is used for domestic heating, it shouldbe capable of being put into operation easily, require a minimum amountof attention thereafter and be easily or automatically adjustable tomeet the heating requirements made necessary by sudden changes in thetemperature or of weather conditions. It should be clean in operation,

free from all fire hazards and free from noise. Since the deslgns ofhousehold furnaces and r boilers vary widely, the oilburning apparatusshould be adapted to be used in connection with many different designsof boilers and furnaces. i I v 1 The oil burning apparatus illustratedand described herein embodies these features and has for its principalobject the provision of means for vaporizing heavy oils such as fueloils and other liquid fuels. at atmospheric pressure or slightly lessthan atmospheric therewith to form a combustible mixture, ig niting themixture out of contact with the fuel and discharging the same into thecombustion chamber of a furnace. I Another object of the invention is toproduce a continuous combustion while readily controlling the rate ofvaporizing the fuel oil to meet the varying requirements of heat to besupplied by the apparatus.

'A further objectof the-invention is to propressure, gasifying thevapors, mixing air- 1927. Serial No. 209,462.

vide a thorough mixing of the air with the oil vapors in the presence ofthe liquid fuel while preventing explosive ignition of the vapors orliquid fuel or subjecting the same to temperatures above that ofvaporization;

' A still further object of the inventionis to provide for thevaporizing of thelighter fractions of the oil and for burning the sameabove a flamel'ess zone and out of contact with the fuel in order thatthe heat of the fiame may vaporize the heavier fractionsof the oilwithout-direct combustion thereof.

g A further object is to provide a method for mixing the air and oilvapors in a separate zone out of contact with thefuel being vaporized sothat the air and oil vapors are thoroughly mixedbefore being introducedinto the combustion chamber and then discharged into the fire box.

A further obj ectof my invention is to pro-' "vide amethod and means forburning fuel oil to which my improvedregulator, described and claimed inmy prior patent No. 1,419,025 of June 6, 1922 as a Feeding device, isespecially applicable, as will be hereinafter pointed out. g I I Astillfurther object of my invention is to provide method for burning a supplyof liquid fuel without first gasifying said fuel.

Briefly, the principal features of the invention may be described asfollows A supply of fuel oil is maintained in a suitable reservoirlocated within an enclosure adjacent to a vaporizing chamber having oneend open as an air inlet and having the opposite end connect-ed with acombustion chamber provided witha delivery conduit for discharging theburning gases into the fire box of the furnace or boiler. Jets ofsuperheated steam at a temperature ranging from 1200 Fahrenheit tohigher temperatures are caused'to impinge upon the surface of the liquidfuel in the reservoir. By numerous trials it has been found that theapparatus operates most efficiently when the angle, in a longitudinalplane between the steam jets impinging upon fuel and the surface of thefuel in the reservoir is approximately These jets of superheated steamstriking the'surface of the oil cause the lighter fractions thereof tobe vapor ized and at the same time through the action of a deflectorcause the resulting vapors to have an upward movement away from thesurface of the fuel in the reservoir. The steam jets also draw in airthrough the air inlet and cause it to be thoroughly mixed with thevaporized fuel oil. The liquid fuel in the reservoir is maintained, bythe superheated steam and by radiation from the flame at temperaturesranging from that necessary to produce vaporization of the a dovaporization of the heavier fractions without causing destructivedistillation.

The vaporlzing chamber is provided with an inclined deflectorref'erredto above along the surface of which the vapors of tilt. fueloil are forced upward by theaction of the steam jets.. The upper portionof the deflector is curved so as to impart a rotary n10- tion to thevapors of the fuel oil as they leave the upper edge of thedeflector.A-portion of this deflector is maintained at ateniperature sufficientlyhigh to, convert the .fuel oil vapors into fixed gases. the deflector isheated to a temperature of approximately 1200 F. which aids in ignitingthe mixture of inflammable gases and air.

The shape and the relative position of the deflector with respect to aprojection between the roof of the vaporizing chamber and. that of thecombustion chamber are such. that some of the mlxtu're which is ignitedat the top edge of the deflector passes into the combustion of isdeflected into the vaporizing chamber as described above. The jets ofsuperheated steam form a blanket between the fuel and the flamepreventing the flame from contacting with the liquid fuel in thereservoir,

but permit radiation of heat from the flame above the fuel. The burninggases are introduced into the vaporizing chaanber for the purpose ofpreheatingt-he oil vapors and the air and to vaporize the heavierfractions of the fuel oil without causing it to ignite or be subjectedto destructive distillation.

It will be observed that by the above process the liquid fuel isvaporized and the vapors thereof are converted intofixed gases whichafter being mixed with heated air are ignit- The upper edge of Figl is aschematic drawing showing how the various parts of the apparatus areconnected together and, by means of arrows, indicating the directions inwhich steam and oil are flowing in various parts of the system;

7 Fig.2 is a cross-sectional View taken through the vaporizing andcombustion chambers showing the shape of the vaporizing. chamher andalso. showing the direction of the flow of the vapors and. gases throughthis chamhe; Fig. 3 a partial cross-sectional view taken through the etproducing steam boiler and the vaporizing and combustion chambersshowing the steam superheater pipes located in the combustion chamber.

Iii-the drawings, the numeral 1 indicates a small steam boiler in whichthe steam. used to form jets above the fuel oil in the reservoir, .isenerated. This boiler should have at cain. Figs. 2. and 3. The boilermay thus be supplied with heat from the burning gases as they passthrough the combustion chamber on their way to the fire box. of thefurnace. chamber while the remaining portionthere- The boiler 1 issupplied with water from awater feeder 4 which is connected withv asuitable supply of water by means of the pipe 5. The, water flows fromthe water feeder 4. through the pipe. 6 into the lower portion of theboiler 1. as indicated clearly in. the drawings. The supply of feedwater to the boiler is controlled by means of a suitable float valvelocated within the water feeder 4. The construction of such a floatactuated valve is well known and need not be further descrihedf Thewater feeder at is connected with the boiler 1. an equalizing pipe 9 bymeans of which thepressure m the water feeder is made substantially thesame as the pressure in the steam space of the boiler 1.. The purpose ofthis construction is to assist the flow of water from the water feeder 4through the pipe 6 intothe boiler 1. A pipe 10 is connected with thesteam space of the boiler 1 and steam. flows therethrough into asuperheater 11 positioned within the combustion chamber 3 as shown-in.Figs. :2- and 3. The

into a manifold 12 positioned within the var porizing chamber 2 Themanifold 1E2 is nro 3 vided with a series of'nozzles in its lowersurface, as indicated in the drawings, so positioned as to direct thesteam flowing therethrough at a longitudinal angle with the surface ofthe oil in the reservoir 13. 'It has been found. that theapparatus-works most efficiently whentheangle between the steam jets andthe surface of the oil is approximately 50, although said angle may bevaried depending upon conditions existing in particular installations.

The reservoir 13 is located directly below the vaporizing chamber 2 asshown in Figs. 2 and 7 and is preferably in the form of a shallow troughhaving its sides inclinedas I shown, whereby the surface area of thesupply of fuel varies with the depth offuel in the reservoir. Theforward end of the reser voir 13 is provided with an inclined deflector14, the main portion of which is preferably at an angle of about 50 withthe surface of the fuel and the upper portion of which is curved asindicated at 15. The upper portion of the deflector is curved for thepur pose of imparting an upward rotary motion to the vapors flowingalong the surface of t. deflector as described above. The upper portion15 of the deflector 14 also forms a kind of bridge wall over which someof the vapors pass after being directed upward. A V

shaped projection 16 is provided so that the vapors flowing along thedeflector 14 are caused to divide, some going into the combustionchamber 3 and some being returnedto the vaporizing chamber 2. The roofof the vaporizing chamber 2 is arched, as shown. clearly in Figs. 2 and3, for the purpose of assisting the rotary motion of the burning vapors.Air is supplied to the vaporizing chamber 2 through the air inlet port17 The forward end of the combustion chamber 3 is provided with afunnel-shaped passage 18 through which the burning gases are dischargedinto the fire box of the furnace or boiler. 7

Fuel oil which has been previously filtered is supplied to the reservoir13 according to the amount of heat required from the apparatus. Suitablemeans are provided to drain the oil from the reservoir 13 quickly whenit is desired to extinguish the burner and these means are also'adaptedto furnish an initial su ply of oil when starting the burner.

The operation of the apparatus may be de scribed as follows The pool ofoil in the reservoir 13 is ignited preferably by means of a smallasbestos torch saturated with fuel oil. The flame of the torch ignitesthe more volat le vapors which come in contact with the deflector 1 andheats it to the higher vaporizing temperature of the fuel oil. The flamefrom the burning oil and vapors heats the boilerl and generates steampreferablv at a pressure of about A of a pound, which flows through thecurved projection the chamber. 2.

bustion chamber3 through the discharge nozs uperheater 11, to themanifold 12 then through the jets therein where, it impinges 0n the ,oilin the reservoir. The. flame, superheated steam and oil vapors are thendriven up thesurface of the deflector 14 heating it to a still highertel1nperature.,.As this mixture of flame, steam and vapors reaches thetop of the deflector,- some of the mixture flows over the deflector orbridge wall 15 into the combustion chamber 3,'wh1le the remainmg portionof the nnxture is turned back into the vaporizing chamber 2 by meansofthe 16 at the upper portion of 'As more steam is generated in theboiler, the steam impinging from the ets in the manifold 12 onto the oil1n the reservoir 13 causes the flame to be driven from the surface ofthe oil to the upper portion of the vaporizingchamber 2. Thus after theapparatus has bcen put into operation, the horizontal blast ofsteamcauses a non-burning layerto be formed and the flame to be entirelyseparated from the oil in the reservoir.- Since the temperature of theoil heated by the heat produced by the flame above ranges from about 450to about 560 F., it is not subjected to destructive distillation nor isit ignited.

'The temperature. of the combustion chamher 2 continuesto rise until itis between 1200 and 1360 F. The steam is therefore superheated totemperatures of approximately the same degree and is sufficient tovaporize the oil in the reservoir. The vapors being thoroughly mixed andsubjected to the high temperature in the vaporizing chamber 2 and on thesurface of the heated deflector 1 4; are converted into fixed gases. 1

Air isdrawn in through the inlet 17 by the ,actionflof the steam jetsand after being deflector with a clear and transparent gas flame. Theburning gases flow from the comzle 17 into the fire box of thefurnace.

The rate of combustion of thefuel oil is preferably automaticallycontrolled according tothe. requirements for the heat demanded of thefurnace by varying the amount of oil supplied to the reservoir 13. Thisraises or lowers the surface of the oil in the reservention, I do notwish to be understood as being limited to details of form or the precisearrangement of parts set forth above, for various changes may be made bythose sk1lled in the art withoutdeparting from the spirit and scope ofmy invention.

lVlmtTclaim is i 1. The process of burning liquid fuel which comprises,maintaining a pool ofsaid fuel, vaporizing a portion of the fuel in saidpool, mixing air with said vapors, burning a'portion of said mixtureabove, but out a of contact with said pool to vaporize the remainingportion offuel in said pool,removing the other portion of said mixtureto and burning the same where the heat generated by said process is tobe utilized.

2. The process of burning liquid fuel said pool removing the otherportion of said mixture to and burning the same where the heat generatedby said process is to be utilized.

3. The process of burning liquid fuel which comprises, maintaining apool of said fuel, impinging jets of superheated steam angularly on thesurface of said pool to vaporize a portion of'the fuel in said pool, mixng air with said vapors, said vapors and air being thoroughly mixedabove the surface of said pool by said jets of superheated steamrebounding from the surface of said pool, burning a portion of saidmixture above, but out of contact withsaid pool'to vaporize the remainng portion of fuel in said pool, removing the other portion of saidmixture to and burning the same where the heat generated by said processis to be utilized.

4. The steps in the process of preparing liquid fuel for combustionwhich comprise, maintaining a pool of said fuel, vaporizing a portion ofthe fuel in said pool and burnins; said vapors above, but out of contactwith said pool by mainta ning a nonburning layer of vapor on the surfaceof said pool, to vaporize the remaining portion of the fuel in saidpool.

5. The steps in the process of preparing liquid fuel for combustionwhich comprise, maintaining a pool of said fuel, impinging superheatedsteam upon the surface of said pool to vaporize a portion of the fuel insaid pool, maintaining a layer of rapidly flowing steam on the surfaceof said pool and burning said vapors above said layer, of steam tovaporize the remaining portion of the fuel in said pool withoutigniting'said pool.

6. The process of burning liquid fuel which comprises, maintaining apool of said fuel, impinging superheated steam upon the surface of saidpool to vaporize a portion of the fuel in said pool, mixing air withsaid vapors, burning a portion of' said mixture above but outofcontactwith said pool to vaporize the remaining portion of fuel in saidpool removinglthe remaining portion of said mixed air and vapors andconduct ing the same to a point Where the heat generated by said processisto be utilized, and

utilizing the heat of the combustion of the

